Thursday, May 26, 2011

Today was the official end of the school year for our family. Graham completed his first year of preschool and we regretfully had to say good-bye to his beloved teacher, Mrs. Jan. She was fabulous and I honestly can't sing her praises enough. I've put in several requests for Amelia to be placed in her class come fall, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I can't believe that next year at this time, it will be the official end of preschool for Graham...one more year and then kindergarten....wow, does time fly!

Until school starts back up again in the fall, we have a busy summer ahead of us. Graham is on a t-ball team, participating in a soccer camp, and taking tennis lessons. He asked me when he was going to swim, golf, and play basketball. I don't think there are enough days in the week to cram in all the sports my little guy wants to play. Amelia will be taking her first dance lessons and she can't wait! I bought her tap shoes and they haven't come off her feet since. She'll also be participating in the same soccer camp as Graham. It will be entertaining I'm sure to watch them play on the same team. We're hoping to spend many lazy weekends up at the lake and come August we're going to wrap up our summer with an amazing vacation...more on that later. :)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Today, Amelia 'graduated' from her classes at the Family Center. In the fall she'll start pre-school....when did she grow so big and how is this happening so fast?? Four years ago I started taking classes at the Family Center with Graham once a week and when Amelia came home I found myself there twice a week. I can't say enough positive things about the wonderful staff and lifelong friends I've made for myself as a result of these classes and it will be very strange that next year, I won't be seeing the familiar friendly faces.

Although Amelia decided to finish out the year without saying a single word (no, I'm not exaggerating) to her teachers (Amelia decides who she wants to talk to and when all on her own terms...my girl has AMAZING will power!) her growth this year has been impressive. Amelia gravitated towards the art center every week. If you put Amelia in front of paints or markers, she'll sit for an hour working on her masterpiece. In the past week she's successfully learned to write her name and today, she very proudly, printed her name on top of her graduation cap. At the beginning of the year, she was barely over two years old and couldn't properly hold a pencil, and today at nearly 3 years old, she's labeling her projects at school. That's certainly impressive growth! Way to go Amelia, we're so proud of you. I'm confident that your contributions to the Class of 2026 will be great and as far off as the year 2026 feels right now, I have a feeling it's going to creep up on us before we know it.

Amelia with her handmade graduation cap and her teachers

Amelia and her classmates

Uncle Peter (who kindly took all these pictures for me) and Grandma came to support Amelia this morning. Our little girl sure is loved...she had the biggest fan club there! :)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Spring...I think it's finally here to stay! Normally, by mid-May, I'd be celebrating the arrival of summer, but not this year. This year, I'm just thankful for a stretch of sunny days and highs in the 60's. Summer will come to the Midwest eventually, right??? Amelia (and her Baby) and I enjoyed a nice long walk this morning. Her commentary as we walked had me laughing. I heard things like "They need to cut the grass!" or "I don't like that car!" or my personal favorite "Why do they have get to have sooo many bootiful yellow flowers in the yard! I want some too!" Thankfully, Amelia, our yard isn't covered in those beautiful yellow flowers also known as dandelions.

Photo snapped quickly with cellphone...please just imagine that the quality is better! :)

Thursday, May 12, 2011

We hit another milestone in our house today...Graham's first field trip! He's been so incredibly excited to ride the school bus to the zoo and carry his 'Cars' lunch bag. Of course I couldn't let him experience his first field trip without me (the thought of him a bus alone chokes me up!), so I was pleased to chaperon. Despite the rainy, cold weather, there was nowhere I'd rather have been.

Graham was happy to hold my hand and share an umbrella as our group was herded through the exhibits. I can't help but marvel at how much Graham has grown this year and I found myself wondering how many years we have before it's not 'cool' to have your Mom along on a class field trip. For the time being though, I'm just going to soak up the time that Graham thinks I'm one of the coolest people on the planet and enjoy the fact that he genuinely enjoys spending time with me.

All ready for the zoo...complete with St. Andrew t-shirt (all the kids wear them so we can easily spot them) and 'Cars' lunch bag!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

This morning we, along with Grandma and Grandpa (who was the official tot watcher while we ran), and our good friends Sara and Chris participated in a 5K race at Daddy Jeff's work. It's obviously May, and we've had maybe 3 days that have actually felt like spring, so the sun and warm weather today made it the perfect morning to be outside. After the adults finished their race (let it be known that Grandma beat us all) it was time for the kids to line up for their 'toddler trot'. To say that Graham and Amelia have been excited for this is an understatement. They play 'race' at home and go crazy cheering each other on as they cross the imaginary finish line, so to be able to participate in the real deal today was HUGE for them.

Graham and Amelia also have the yellow race shirts but I wanted to be able to see them in the herd of kids so they're not wearing them. Graham has on a white shirt with navy pants and Amelia has on white shirt with pink pants.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Graham was thrilled to have the opportunity to spend the entire day with his Grandma which meant that Amelia and I had the entire day together to do girl stuff! I asked Amelia last night what she wanted to do today and she said "I want to go to the mall for new jeans!". This cracked me up...is she 2 or 15????? So, after a slow, lazy morning (Amelia woke up at 10!) we hit the mall. Amelia is turning out to be quite the little shopper. She repeatedly asked me for "one more store" several times. Hunger finally got the best of me so I asked her what she wanted for lunch. I fully expected her to request McDonald's but instead she very politely asked for a cupcake. I was ready to tell her no, but I stopped myself. If you can't eat cupcakes for lunch on a girls day out, when can you do it? So, Miss Amelia and I dined on beautifully decorated cupcakes this afternoon. I could tell that Amelia thought we were really doing something special so this might have to be our new tradition. After all, she did choose a banana cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting....fruit and dairy...what more could a person want?